Samsung Smart TV ES8000

Is this the ‘future of television’? Well, it’s certainly quite an experience

This slim 55 inch LED TV looks great atop a table-top stand. In fact, you may not even want to mount it on a wall. In case you do, all the regular brackets and sockets are firmly in place. Also in place are features like full HD resolution, micro-dimming and edge lighting for the screen. But that is not the reason Samsung calls it ‘the future of television’.

If you have played Xbox Kinect, you may be familiar with this ‘future’. The gaming console does not need a remote control. All menus can be navigated by hand waves. This TV works in a similar manner. It has a camera on top to recognise your gestures and enable motion control. So, to scroll a webpage, all you have to do is slide your hand across the screen. You can also use voice commands. The TV has face recognition too. It may not be a very secure way to log in, but can bring up your personalised menus and apps without the hassle of typing in a username and password.  But if you are prone to storing highly classified documents on your TV, you can always use the bundled Bluetooth keyboard, which is also useful for surfing the web.

If you have trouble adjusting to motion-based control, you can use the traditional remote control. Samsung has also bundled an additional remote control, which it calls a ‘touchpad remote’. It has shortcuts to the regular TV functions and also has a microphone through which you can issue voice commands to the TV.

The TV does a good job of bringing you the usual social media and video content from the internet. Samsung has also tied up with several content providers for free and paid content. The TV can access the internet with its integrated Wi-Fi. Again, if you want to use cables, there is no dearth of connectors: 3 HDMI ports, 3 USB ports, component, composite, digital audio output, LAN port and even a Scart port. And because it is also a 3D TV, four pairs of 3D glasses are included in the package.

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